Topic: Anime & Manga (NO SPOILERS PLEASE)

D-Frag is being one of my favorite comedy anime so far!

Funimation licensed it, so probably not...

I'm pretty proud of the Conan fandom. I made a huge essay about how the main female love interest had become a bad character and despite her still being a popular character, and even after months, there was minimum-to-no issues in the thread despite being one of the most popular I've ever made.

So the only anime I'm really watching right now is Space Dandy.

And I just finished Kids on the Slope. ;___; That was such a beautiful anime.. Well, it certainly was not what I expected at all. No seriously, it was the opposite in every single way. I thought it was going to be a winter themed anime about kids that snow board with a romantic plot. Yes, I need to stop taking titles literally.
It exceeded everything I anticipated. After the no care whatsoever for plot of Space Dandy (which i'm thoroughly enjoying) and craziness of Kill la Kill, this was a very nice change of pace. I loved the realism and fun normal characters. I really ended up liking Sentaro and that ending. ;___; Ah it was just so sweet I almost cried. Almost. Because then crunchyroll's stupid commercials utterly ruined the moment. But really, the music, the animation, the characters. It was all wonderful!

Hmm, I'll have to check it out...after the many other things I mean to check out. XD

That's impressive on any type of forum. Glad you found such a good community.

Actually, that kind of reminds me of when I was at Mechatalk. I always felt like remedial student who accidently sat in on an advanced class there, but despite the many disagreements, things rarely got heated, at least as far as I saw.

Anyways...you know, I noticed, with games, I'm pretty tolerant of other people's tastes. I rarely seem to care about what people say about my favorite games, or if they like a game I don't like. With anime, though, I always seem to get some weird gut reaction. Usually just a feeling of disappointment, but even that's more than I feel it should be. It really shouldn't be a problem at all to me that someone, say, hates One Piece or Cowboy Bebop, or even Gundam, but likes ecchi anime, or harem anime, or mushy slice of life comedies with no plot or character development. That's just what they like, and they're no better nor worse for it...yet my first instinct is to shun that type of person, and I'm not exactly sure why. Maybe it's just because I have a very defined idea of what a good game should be (to put it as basic as possible: a show where the story and characters are not the same when it ended as when it began. A story of change and growth) and I dislike seeing at idea challenged?

...or maybe it's just because with gamers, I'm used to people explaining why they like or dislike something, so I can understand their preferences even when I don't share them, which is much more difficult with anime, since there's less to talk about. It's one thing to explain things like various game mechanics and technical flaws. For someone who has played so many games, that's pretty easy for me to understand even when not much effort is put into it. It's a whole other story when we're talking about tastes in storytelling, which is basically all you really have to talk about in anime outside of the animation and action scenes (the latter of which no one really ever talks about outside of "it's awesome!" or "it's boring..."). Unless you're dedicated and/or have in-depth knowledge of how stories work, it's going to be difficult to get your point across. Often times when I see people talk about stories, what they say often just amounts to "The story was great because I liked it", "The story was stupid because I said so!", or "I like/hated the characters because they were cool/annoying", etc. It's rare that I run into people who can make that kind of discussion work in a way so that both sides can understand without having in-depth knowledge of the story in question, and that includes myself. I just don't understand stories enough, how they work, how they don't work, etc.

To sum it up, I probably won't be spending much time at anime forums from now on. It's just never going to be what I want it to be, which is a place where I can have intelligent discussions about anime. Not just because of others, but myself as well.

/Ramble

I tend to have that reaction if I genuinely don't get how anyone could dislike something...or more accurately how anyone could think a thing is bad. Like I don't like Gears of War but I can acknowledge just fine that it's probably as good as people say for what it is. If someone doesn't like Metroid Prime, that's fine, but you cannot say it's a bad game.

I think if someone hated One Piece but liked Angel Beats, I'd lose it though.

You should meet my friend.

I've heard from some people that it's one of those shows that is better than it has any right to be.

Assuming I'm thinking of the same one, because you just used random japanese words for all I know...

Did I just time travel back to 2007?

Im getting K-ON! Season one on dvd tomorrow ^^

I notice a pattern in Space Dandy. Almost every episode is like based on a grindhouse movie genre. They had a zombie episode,a cannibal episode,aliens & most recently a race/car chase.

Space Dandy...as goofy as it is, it feels like there's something more there, underneath the zaniness and crassness. Like that fleeting scene at the end of episode 2 with the Ramen Maker, the end of episode 4 was surprisingly deep, and the entire of episode 5. It seems like there's a lot to this show we haven't scene yet, there are still 19 weeks left anyways.

One interesting theory I've heard is that talk of multiple/alternate universes, thanks to the frequent times the crew has dealt with rips in space time. It almost makes you wonder if they're going to do something with this lack of plot/continuity.....or they might not at all who knows.

So episode 4 of Non Non Biyori was really really great. Somehow in half an episode they developed a new character and built a friendship so earnestly that I was grinning at the conclusion. Reminds me of why I like SoL in the first place.

Almost forgot, I watched the first episode of Samurai Flamenco the other day! I have to say, I new the started at "humble beginnings" but I did not expect that. Dunno if I like it yet, and if anything watching that episode has made the wait for the end easier.

@Gusilverflame What's Tanama's jelousy ball? _{I don't think I've watched this far into Sgt. Frog or don't remember that part. 20 episodes in i think?}

http://keroro.wikia.com/wiki/Jealousy_Ball

Doesn't say what episode it starts but yeah.

@CanisWolfred Thanks.

Well, you guys were right. Madoka Magica ended up being amazing.